


Unexpected Nothingness

by midnightwings



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Angst, Hopeful Ending, Jack Kline - mentioned - Freeform, M/M, Post-Episode: s15e19 Inherit the Earth, Spoilers for Episode: s15e19 Inherit the Earth, The Empty (Supernatural), disney princess-ness, gay love can pierce through the veil of death and save the day, kind of
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-19
Updated: 2020-11-19
Packaged: 2021-03-10 02:20:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 943
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27636068
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/midnightwings/pseuds/midnightwings
Summary: After Jack leaves to go be one with the universe or whatever, Dean and Sam attempt to find a way to bring back Castiel from the Empty. The solution is unexpected.Coda to 15x19 with one episode left to air.
Relationships: Castiel/Dean Winchester, Dean Winchester & Sam Winchester
Comments: 2
Kudos: 27





	Unexpected Nothingness

**Author's Note:**

> Hello there! I haven’t written fanfic in years and years, yet here I am, posting this very short fic on the day of the finale. Adding another 15x19 coda onto the pile. This is very rushed but hope someone enjoys! The solution is very hand-wavey and super cliché and borderline makes no sense but uh…oh well! Hopefully the formatting didn't get messed up.

_Swirling black tendrils surrounded him, tightening ever so imperceptibly. Shaking hands reached out, towards something in the nothingness, and came back empty. No one was there. Nothing was coming to save him. He drowned in the inky silence._

* * *

Dean gasped, sweat gathering along his hairline, and shot up from the bed. “Cas!” His heart thundered loudly in his ears. “Cas…” he repeated quietly. Dean’s eyes slipped shut, and he sagged against the headboard, a bone-deep weariness settling in as it had every day since Cas had…since the Empty took Cas. He checked his phone for the time – _any missed calls? (any from Cas?)_ – and sighed. 5:07am. Might as well get up. No point in trying to get some rest, not with the same recurring nightmare of what he imagined Cas to be going through.

With a grunt, Dean rolled out of bed and nearly tripped over the half-empty bottle of jack on the floor. He kicked it aside and shuffled out to start another day – six days after Chuck and nine after Cas – trying to find a way into The Empty without disrupting the newly restored balance.

Later, he found himself staring blankly at the pages of the book currently holding all of his hopes. Unbidden, his mind wandered right back to where it went constantly these days, try as he might to have any kind of respite from the memory. Cas’s last words swirled around, formless and circling, overlapping and yet continuing the endless echo in his head.

_It’s in just saying it._

_I love you._

_Goodbye, Dean._

_The one thing that I want is something I know I can't have._

_I love you._

_I love you._

_I love you..._

Dean squeezed his eyes shut, not noticing – or perhaps not caring – that tears were leaking out. They dripped down his face, running in a slow trail until they fell off his chin and onto the yellowing pages below. His chest heaved, blood rushing into his ears with a dull roar. _Am I suffocating? When will this stop? I can’t do this, I can’t do this – Cas, please –_

__

“Dean!” Sam’s voice pierced through the fog and managed to capture Dean’s fading attention. “Dean! Okay, c’mon, Dean, just – just breathe,” he soothed, “that’s it. In and out. Slowly.” His hands gently held on Dean’s shoulders as the shaking gradually decreased.

__

A few minutes passed as they simply breathed together. “Dean…”

__

“I’m fine.”

__

“You’re clearly not fine, Dean,” Sam sighed, a note of sadness underlying his otherwise calm voice. “I’m not either, it’s okay to grieve – ”

__

“I know! Okay? I know. That’s not what this is,” Dean cut in quietly. He turned in his chair to fully face Sam, who remained half standing, half leaning on the library table, the book shoved roughly aside and still displaying the pages Dean’s tears had stained. “I know Jack said he’s hands off and everything, but why does that have to apply to getting Cas out of the Empty?” His eyes bore pleadingly into his younger brother’s. “I’m happy we got everyone back – Eileen, Charlie, everyone – but I just…”

__

Sam nodded. “I asked him and myself the same question.” Silence filled the space between them. “He wants to be as different from Chuck as possible.” With a hard swallow and another nod, he stood up. Dean couldn’t meet his eyes. He glanced at the book, lying open and emitting a strange purple glow.

__

He did a double take. “Is the book glowing? What,” he spun around again to Dean, “the hell?”

__

Dean raised his eyebrows and stared over at it. “What the hell,” he echoed. They shared a look and leaned over to examine it. He noticed immediately a raised circle of Latin that had not been there before. “What does it say?”

__

Sam peered down and recited, “ _Sentio nihil. Volo intrare nihil. Tantum amor fortior quam mors.”_ He swallowed. “Roughly translating to _I feel nothing. I want to enter nothing. Only with love stronger than death.”_

__

Dean’s eyes had steadily become wider as he felt something other than pain bloom deep within his chest. “Enter nothing…The Empty?” He tried to tamp it down. “Sam…do you think this…”

__

“Yes, I think it could be. But how did it…” Sam paused, brows furrowed. “Oh.”

__

A moment passed. “What do you mean, ‘oh’?”

__

“Well…the only thing that changed was uh, your…your tears falling on the page.” Dean stared. Sam spread his arms wide. “Dean…love stronger than death. Feeling nothing. Doesn’t that sound like, y’know, you? Right now?”

__

Dean felt woozy. “How…what?” 

__

“Dean,” Sam said softly. “You don’t need to hide it. I know.”

__

Dean met his gaze in silence. “He said it, you know. I didn’t even have time to say it back before the Empty showed up.”

__

“I’m sorry, Dean. But I’m sure he –”

__

“Knew? I don’t think he did,” he sighed. And then – Dean felt his whole being buzz anew with a fresh sense of determination. His eyes cleared and he caught Sam’s eyes. “How very…Disney-princess-y,” Dean huffed with the ghost of a smirk. “But I’ll take it.”

__

Half an hour later, the brothers gathered the ingredients for the spell and placed the book in the middle of a circle painted in Dean’s blood. Sam turned to Dean, the sigil-covered angel blade clutched tightly in his hand, a cautious half smile adorning his face. “You ready?” 

__

Dean met his eyes and allowed some hope to seep onto his face. “Let’s go show The Empty where Cas really belongs.” _And I can say a few things back to him._ They stepped into the portal, ready to bring the angel home.

__

**Author's Note:**

> Here's to hoping for canon Destiel before the finale airs and we all know the truth.


End file.
